Jones-Drew didn’t think holdout would last this long

That’s the import of Jones-Drew’s extensive remarks from Thursday, at which time he said he didn’t think his holdout would extend so deep into the preseason.

“I didn’t think it would get to this point, from where it started,” Jones-Drew said Thursday during a local appearance, via Garry Smits of the Florida Times-Union.

It has gotten to this point only because owner Shahid Khan hasn’t blinked. And Jones-Drew apparently thought Khan would.

Jones-Drew said plenty more during a 12-minute chat with the Times-Union and a pair of local TV stations. It was smart for Jones-Drew to finally make himself heard to the folks in Jacksonville, because even though he claims to be getting a lot of support via Twitter, the folks in Jacksonville generally seem to be aligned with Khan’s “get on the train” mentality. Indeed, when Jones-Drew was introduced to judge a dance contest at a local car dealership, there were “scattered boos” in the crowd of roughly 100.

And while Jones-Drew said he’d love to finish his career in Jacksonville, he didn’t rule out a trade. Which likely means that he would welcome one.

“You’d have to talk to the Jaguars about that,” Jones-Drew said of a possible trade. “They’re the ones who have to go through with any deal.”

The issue arises from Jones-Drew’s belief that he has outperformed the deal he signed in 2009. “Guys get cut with multiple years left on their contracts,” Jones-Drew said. “I don’t see any difference [in his holding out for more money]. Guys perform, but not to their compensation and they get asked to take a pay cut or get released. It’s a production-based business. If you don’t perform, you get cut. If you do perform, you get rewarded with cash payment.”

He’s right. The system permits players under contract to hold out for more, if they are willing to risk incurring $30,000 per day in fines. And, eventually, losing game checks.

The problem here is that Khan isn’t required to give Jones-Drew a new contract. After all, it’s not as if he’s the missing piece to a Super Bowl run. The Jags have had only one winning season during Jones-Drew’s six years with the team. When he lead the league in rushing last season, they were 5-11.

Jones-Drew also expressed concern that Khan’s comments made the player feel unappreciated, but Jones-Drew later said that he likes the fact that Khan “always speaks his mind.”

Our take? Jones-Drew wants to come back. Now Khan needs to give Jones-Drew a way to save face.

Waiving fines that will hit $900,000 on Friday could be the only way to do that, unless Khan can find a way to give Jones-Drew a new deal while still honoring Khan’s claim that there will be no new deal.

34 responses to “Jones-Drew didn’t think holdout would last this long”

Maurice Jones-Drew and Rashad Jennings will make a killer 1-2 punch and probably the best in the league. Remember when Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew had almost 2,000 yards rushing combined in 2007, something similar can happen this year with better wide receivers and a rejuvenated quarterback.

He welcomes a trade which says pay me BIG to stay with the jags because he doesent see them winning anytime soon (hes in his 6th year) or trade me to a winner so i have a chance to be a winner..i dont have a problem with jacksonville however i dont see gabbert as a qb that can carry this team any time soon.

This is so stupid. MJD made this mess, not the Jags. Now he realizes what everyone else has for months.. that he has no leverage, no play and no exit strategy. Khan could let him rot for two years then tag him for a third if he wanted (technically). Not that I think he would.

His bluff got called. In the most literal terms that means the hand is over and he lost. Not sure there is much more he has to say. He can sit all season if he wants. He is only impacting his own wallet.

Guys on their second or third contracts who have already signed big money to be starters, can rot, even if they are on my favorite team.

You see this all the time with divas. They get the big upfront they asked for in their contracts (ex. 11,11,5,5) and even though they know their average is 8 mill/yr they feel (because of the upfront money) that they are 11 mill/yr players. When that 11 mill/yr stops rolling in they don’t remember that they signed a contract that’s supposed to average 8mill/yr, they just realize that they aren’t making as much as they used to.

Kahn should not back down from the fines. It’s the owners legal counter to a player under contract that does not show up.

On the other side of the spectrum, the biggest contract screwup with a malcontent player is a tie between Revis and DeSean Jackson.

Revis is not the difference between a superbowl for the Jets and to keep paying him every time the signing bonus money runs out sends a bad message to other players. Assuming that they draft or sign other players who are probowl caliber.

DeSean Jackson, yes he outperformed his contract, but to reward what he did on the field last year, was a travesty. Holding out is one thing but tanking the team is reprehensible. Andy has partial blame because he could see that Jackson wasn’t playing hard and kept putting him out there.

Call me naive, but instead of giving these players front loaded contracts, why not spread it out over the number of years of the contract and include performance bonuses? I’m totally sick of these guys not honoring the contracts they agreed to. Maybe I won’t be popular with my comments, but I lose all respect for these divas when they get too big for their britches.

Interesting he is in town at ascheduled appearance, that happens to be scheduled the same day as an AWAY JAGUARS game….so, his teammates are working and he’s making a public appearance? And not a charity event, its at a car dealership, really? Its time to get to work Mojo…you are either with us or against us…..

And as for the up to $900,000. in fine…what kind of message does that send to players….doesnt that money go to NFL charities….so what you are saying is that…no sweat, take the spring and summer off, and there is no repercussions….not even financial. He needs to be responsible for a portion of the fines at least.

Kahn, I love your business sense, thanks for the ENERGY in DUVAL and also for having the kahunas to make business decisions….

I was at the Fiat dealership last night and the ‘scattered boos’ is actually a rather accurate description – scattered – but it was very very few with the rest of the evening being extremely pleasant. MJD was extremely friendly and talkative with the crowd while posing for every picture requested. Point being, this fanbase (myself included) love the guy, even if we believe that Khan is right in the situation, and want him back in the fold.

Personally, I stood to the side with him for a few minutes and told him that it was really great to see him in town and he seemed very sincere in saying that he appreciated my saying that.

Overall, I think everyone was happy he was there and it was a positive event with the fans. I’d be shocked if MJD didn’t take it as a positive feeling as well.

I was there last night and nobody “boo’ed” him. They were saying “DREW” just like they do at the home games when he gets the ball. He was very personable and I believe he’s ready to report. He looks in shape and says he is and is ready to play.

Give the man his last contract like he deserves! Khan essentially wants to wait until MJD is 30 when his contract expires and dump him. By then MJD isn’t going to get the kind of money he can get right now. It’s only fair you pay your best AND most loyal player now while he can still collect this kind of money.

I definitely get MJD’s point…teams have ALL the leverage – and first chance the teams get to save money by forcing a guy to take a paycut or flat out cutting someone because the salary is too high for the production – they do it. They do it all the time.
MJD is a great great player…I don’t care that he missed training camp…at this point he doesn’t need one.

I think if the Jags publicly waive fines and put out the welcome mat – he reports.

Sounds to me like he knows he is not getting a new contract and he wants to come back.

“Guys get cut with multiple years left on their contracts,” Jones-Drew said. “I don’t see any difference [in his holding out for more money]. Guys perform, but not to their compensation and they get asked to take a pay cut or get released. It’s a production-based business. If you don’t perform, you get cut. If you do perform, you get rewarded with cash payment.”

That is why players get signing bonuses and guaranteed money, to compensate for the risk of getting cut. If MJD would have been cut early he would have gotten more than his yearly average because of these guarantees. No sympathy here.

MJD salary for 2012: $4,450,000 and Salary for 2013: $4,950,000. It’s not like he is making chump change.. Sure if he was a FA now he’d be getting more, but he signed the contract he has. I don’t get it, did he sign it not expecting to have a great year like he did last year?

@higgy1:
i love people who post about other people’s education and then proceed to misuse “there”…you needed to use “their” in your attempted insult….

i have nothing against MJD or the Jags, but the owner is right in this one. if MJD wanted a better contract, he had an opportunity to negotiate it. if he and his agent werent smart enough to push for, and get, incentives that would pay him what he believes he’s worth after the season he had, that’s their fault, not khan’s. he should suck it up, show up, and play. this isnt his rookie contract, he should’ve known better, and more importantly negotiated better.

the problem with this is that players who do this are attempting to renegotiate their current contract based on past performance. can he guarantee that if he gets a new contract he wont get hurt? can he guarantee that he will lead the league in rushing again? more importantly can he guarantee that paying him more will help the team be more successful than they were last year?

let’s say you agreed on a price for some guy to cut your lawn 5 times for $50. After 3 times, he decides that he’s the best landscaper (because he won “best landscaper” award in the NY Times) and refuses to cut your lawn until you agree to give him more money, would you pay him?

I’m with MJD. The owners don’t have an issue with demanding that players change their contract and take a salary cut, but always cry foul when a player turns the tables and wants to be compensated at fair market rate.

I think there’s also an open question out there about Khan’s philosophy as an owner. Using my Lions as an example, the older Ford (William Clay) always appeared to want the Lions to be just barely good enough to sell tickets, but wasn’t too concerned about winning a championship. Millen didn’t get fired until Bill Ford spoke about it in public, and Bill Ford seems more interested in winning.

The question is whether Khan actually wants to win games, or just use the cash flow from the team to support his other business ventures. Right now it does not look like putting together a winning team is a priority.

how stupid was his comment?its like saying i didnt know i would have to hold my breath so long.especially when u dont have to .he controls how long the holdout is and then talks about how it went longer than he expected?he controls how long it goes,dumbazz.its like saying wow i ate alot more than i wanted to for lunch.or i cant believe i drank so much last night.nothing funnier that someone being surprised about their own actions,like they didnt realize they were doing them .

@footballfan58
“I’m totally sick of these guys not honoring the contracts they agreed to. ”

Who, the players or the owners? Jacksonville cut 4 players in August alone. Why doesn’t the team have to honor the contract THEY agreed to? They have cut 34 players since February (according to the Transactions section of Yahoo Sports).

Call me crazy, but I feel that if the team can chose not to pay a player when they under perform, then it should be ok for a player to ask to be paid more when they over perform. Especially since, unlike probably every single person on this board, they cannot just up and go to a team that will pay them more. And especially since the holdout is costing MJD money.

The whole reason Kahn is even getting money to pay these salaries is because people are willing to pay to see guys like MJD play football. I know I pay my money to see AP and Harvin, not Zygi Wilf.

If I were a player, I would be watching teams like Jacksonville and Chicago playing hardball with their stars so that I was sure not to sign with them when I became a free agent. If they are not willing to compensate their best player fairly, then why should any player in the league think they would get a decent deal from them.

You have a contract, honor it, I realize this is asking a black man to go above and beyond their normal capability, but in the real world, a deal is a deal, quit being a prima donna little sissy girl, take your skirt off, douche your cooch, and accept, this is a big one coming, accept responsibility.